Article: The Power of Your Customer List; Quit Stabbing in the Dark Forever!

How to create and use a powerful customer data list the right way.

 

So who do you think it is easier to sell to….

 

A. A random stranger or

B. Somebody who has already shown an interest in your product or business?

 

I think we all know that hard selling to strangers is nearly impossible but selling to someone who already has an excellent understanding of your product or service is much easier. It’s also an enjoyable experience as you give them something that you know they actually need.

Besides, it’s much cheaper to sell to your own customer and here’s why….

 

Scenario A.

You are advertising to the general public in the form of say a small newspaper ad is what I call ‘stabbing in the dark’. You are trying to prove to everybody that they need your service or at best you are hoping that some of them might need your service.

You have probably written an ad that is fairly vague because you are trying to reach everybody instead of trying to reach your customer, the person who actually needs your service.

You continue to do this spending hundreds of dollars each month and you will occasionally grab some leads which will at best be vaguely interested in your business and you will be required to do a lot of work to bring those customers up to speed.

I know this because I recently ran some ads in the newspaper and then could’ve slapped myself after I watched my waisted dollars turn into flopped leads and no sales…stabbing in the dark can be an expensive and time consuming exercise and it rarely makes you more money than spent.

 

Scenario B.

On the other hand you might have a list of say 1000 people (which is a good list by the way) and you send out some very valuable content each month to this list including specials/deals/items of value that you know will definitely enhance their lives or day in some way.

Out of 1000 emails (cost of which is free) you on average could make up to 10 sales (depending on your business, your product, the quality of your written copy etc). Not bad and not at all stabbing in the dark!

You see people who are on your list already need your product. I choose Scenario B!

 

Let’s now talk about what you need to offer your client list in return…

 

Value.

You must offer them a valuable service. If they are going to take 5 minutes to open your mail and read it then you must give them something that is worthy of their time. A deal, a special, an invitation to an upcoming event, some very useful information or simply just something to make their day brighter. You must offer something!

 

A string of Tiered Products:

Give them a step by step taster of what your business or service is capable of.

Structure your product line so that you can offer first a neat little package of niceties that is FREE… this is like a thankyou for the time you have already taken from them.

Then offer them a valuable string of bits as we just discussed in the form of a monthly newsletter.

Then offer them an inexpensive product that is affordable.

That then leads to your silver class product or service which then leads to your gold class product or complete service. 

 

Through tiered product arrangement you will only ever need to focus the marketing for your business on building a list and then advertising only to your list. This list could essentially build your business for you, like clockwork. No matter what type of business you run, every business can do this, it may just take some creativity.

So how do you build a customer list and what system should you use?

 

Offline Business

If you are a brick and mortar type business and you operate solely offline then you have to give your customers good reason to leave their details every time they walk into your store or every time you visit them in house. A simple prize/giveaway would be suffice to start building your list.

 

You would then store your data within your account keeping software where those customers details who have bought from you have also been stored. Or for email purposes you could use a system as simple as Microsoft Outlook.

Generally we want all of our customer data to be stored in one place where we can market to our customers according to our relationship with them….eg. those that have bought from you would be sent different information to those who have only showed interest.

 

Online Business

If you are online catching their details can be a lot easier however you lose the advantage of representing yourself face to face. Your website must represent you in the right light. Your website must make the visitor feel safe and give you credibility and must have a list ‘opt in’ on every page of your site that includes something like a ‘free gift’ for each opt in. I urge you to be creative in your gift offering and don’t offer anything that is useless or not of value.

 

To catch your client data there are a few great online list systems that I recommend like Aweber and iContact. You can check them out by visiting the Customer Relationship Management section of our website here. Your website software if you are using a full content management system like ours may also have an option to manage all of your customer data from the back end of your website.

 

No matter what type of system you use make sure all of your data is in the one place, is organised and can be accessed easily. Preferably ensure that you can track the results of each message that you send.

 

Building and using a strong client list can make or break your business and literally save you thousands of dollars. Get cracking on building your list today!

Good Luck and Best Wishes

 

Ronis White
Busiwizard